Triodos Bank and the arms sector

Triodos has been able to effect change in the arms manufacturer and trading sector by influencing the banks and asset managers that finance it.

‘As a result of our on-going dialogue with several banks, including providing details of companies involved in the manufacture of such weapons, a number of them have reviewed their policies and are developing or refining blacklists. A few banks immediately sold the disputed investments as a result of our research team’s contact with them.

“Over the last couple of years we’ve witnessed this having a major impact in the way that financial institutions deal with financing arms companies. They’ve now got the information – we’ve made it very transparent and feasible for them to act responsibly,” says Rosl Veltmeijer, Head of Sustainability Research, Triodos Bank.

This has limited some arms producers’ ability to attract new investors, which in turn can limit their activities. A growing number of arms producers have issued statements that they are not involved in specified controversial arms. Some, including Sweden’s Saab and German company Rheinmetall, have even explicitly stated that they have stopped producing such arms.’